Video game sales drop 19% in July

A crowd gathers around the case displaying XBox One at the opening of the E3 game convention. Anticipation of the new game consoles is contributing to slowing sales.

A crowd gathers around the case displaying XBox One at the opening of the E3 game convention. Anticipation of the new game consoles is contributing to slowing sales. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Dawn C. Chmielewski

Video game sales fell to $443 milllion in July, representing a drop of 19% from the same time a year earlier, according to a newly released report from researcher the NPD Group.

Hardware sales declined a more precipitous 34% to $99 million in July, from $150.9 million in the prior year, as the consumers wait for the introduction this year of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 game consoles.

The sales of physical goods — hardware, software and accessories — now account for roughly half what consumers spend on games, according to NPD analyst Liam Callahan. Total spending rises to an estimated $1.2 billion when considering projections of how much consumers spent to rent games, buy used titles, download apps for mobile devices or on micro-transactions, he said.

Among software titles, Electronic Arts' "NCAA Football 14," was the top-selling game of the month — though sales were off from the prior year's introduction because of the impending console transition.